Brazil Protests Against Trump Tariffs; Burn Effigy Mass Protests US Tariffs-N18G
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Mint
13 minutes ago
- Mint
Who is Adriana Kugler and what her exit mean for Trump's pick for next Fed Chair
Governor Adriana Kugler has stepped down from the US Federal Reserve board, providing US President Donald Trump with an important chance to shape monetary policy before the 2026 transition of the central bank's chair. Kugler is the first Hispanic to serve on the Fed's Board of Governors. She submitted her resignation letter on Friday, effective August 8. With her term ending in January 2026, her early exit comes amid Trump's latest attack on Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Dr. Adriana D. Kugler was appointed on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System since September 13, 2023, for a term until January 31, 2026. Before her appointment to the Board, she was the US Executive Director at the World Bank Group. She is currently on leave from Georgetown University, where she serves as a professor of Public Policy and Economics. She previously held the position of chief economist at the US Department of Labour between 2011 and 2013. Additionally, Dr. Kugler was a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Centre for the Study of Poverty and Inequality at Stanford University. Kugler also served as the elected chair of the Business and Economics Statistics Section of the American Statistical Association, a member of the Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy of the National Academies of Sciences, and a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the Bureau of Labour Statistics. In terms of education, she pursued a BA in economics and political science from McGill University and a PhD in economics from the University of California, Berkeley. Under Fed regulations, the chair must be selected from the present members of the Fed's board. Trump, who has been repeatedly urging Powell to resign, Kugler's departure may impact his timeline to choose the next central bank chair. If the US President opts to select an outsider for the board, like National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett or former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, he might not have the opportunity to do so again soon, Bloomberg reported. Powell's term as chair concludes in May, but his role as a governor continues until 2028. Although outgoing chairs usually resign from the board, Powell has not disclosed his future plans. If he stays, Trump won't have another chance to fill a board vacancy until 2028. In that scenario, the president might be obliged to appoint the person he plans to promote next May to fill the Kugler vacancy. If he is keen to quickly add a new loyalist to the board, he will need to decide promptly who that chair will be. There is no indication that Trump has decided on a candidate yet. However, the contenders include Hassett, Warsh, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and current Fed Governor Christopher Waller, the report added.
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Business Standard
13 minutes ago
- Business Standard
China pushes back at US demands to stop buying Russian, Iranian oil
US and Chinese officials may be able to settle many of their differences to reach a trade deal and avert punishing tariffs, but they remain far apart on one issue: the US demand that China stop purchasing oil from Iran and Russia. "China will always ensure its energy supply in ways that serve our national interests," China's Foreign Ministry posted on X on Wednesday, following two days of trade negotiations in Stockholm, responding to the US threat of a 100 per cent tariff. "Coercion and pressuring will not achieve anything. China will firmly defend its sovereignty, security and development interests," the ministry said. The response is notable at a time when both Beijing and Washington are signalling optimism and goodwill about reaching a deal to keep commercial ties between the world's two largest economies stable -- after climbing down from sky-high tariffs and harsh trade restrictions. It underscores China's confidence in playing hardball when dealing with the Trump administration, especially when trade is linked to its energy and foreign policies. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, emerging from the talks, told reporters that when it comes to Russian oil purchases, the "Chinese take their sovereignty very seriously". "We do not want to impede on their sovereignty, so they would like to pay a 100 per cent tariff," Bessent said. On Thursday, he called the Chinese tough negotiators, but said China's pushback has not stalled the negotiations. "I believe that we have the makings of a deal," Bessent told CNBC. Gabriel Wildau, managing director of the consultancy Teneo, said he doubts President Donald Trump would actually deploy the 100 per cent tariff. "Realising those threats would derail all the recent progress and probably kill any chance" for Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to announce a trade deal if they should meet this fall, Wildau said. In seeking to restrict oil sales by Russia and Iran, a major source of revenue for both countries, the US wants to reduce the funding available for their militaries, as Moscow pursues its war against Ukraine and Tehran funds militant groups across the Middle East. China plays hardball When Trump unveiled a sweeping plan for tariffs on dozens of countries in April, China was the only country that retaliated. It refused to give in to US pressure. "If the US is bent on imposing tariffs, China will fight to the end, and this is China's consistent official stance," said Tu Xinquan, director of the China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. WTO is the acronym for the World Trade Organization. Negotiating tactics aside, China may also suspect that the US will not follow through on its threat, questioning the importance Trump places on countering Russia, Tu said. Scott Kennedy, senior adviser and trustee chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said Beijing is unlikely to change its posture when it sees inconsistencies in US foreign policy goals toward Russia and Iran, whereas Beijing's policy support for Moscow is consistent and clear. It is also possible that Beijing may want to use it as another negotiating tool to extract more concessions from Trump, Kennedy said. Danny Russel, a distinguished fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Beijing now sees itself as "the one holding the cards in its struggle with Washington". He said Trump has made it clear he wants a "headline-grabbing deal" with Xi, "so rejecting a US demand to stop buying oil from Iran or Russia is probably not seen as a deal-breaker, even if it generates friction and a delay". Continuing to buy oil from Russia preserves Xi's "strategic solidarity" with Russian President Vladimir Putin and significantly reduces the economic costs for China, Russel said. "Beijing simply cannot afford to walk away from the oil from Russia and Iran," he said. "It is too important a strategic energy supply, and Beijing is buying it at fire-sale prices." China depends on oil from Russia and Iran A 2024 report by the US Energy Information Administration estimates that roughly 80 per cent to 90 per cent of the oil exported by Iran went to China. The Chinese economy benefits from the more than one million (10 lakh) barrels of Iranian oil it imports per day. After the Iranian parliament floated a plan to shut down the Strait of Hormuz in June following US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, China spoke out against closing the critical oil transit route. China also is an important customer for Russia, but is second to India in buying Russian seaborne crude oil exports. In April, Chinese imports of Russian oil rose 20 per cent over the previous month to more than 1.3 million (13 lakh) barrels per day, according to the KSE Institute, an analytical centre at the Kyiv School of Economics. This past week, Trump said the US will impose a 25 per cent tariff on goods from India, plus an additional import tax because of India's purchasing of Russian oil. India's Foreign Ministry said on Friday its relationship with Russia was "steady and time-tested". Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and a top policy adviser, said Trump has been clear that it is "not acceptable" for India to continue financing the Ukraine war by purchasing oil from Russia. "People will be shocked to learn that India is basically tied with China in purchasing Russian oil," Miller said on Fox News Channel's "Sunday Morning Futures". He said the US needs "to get real about dealing with the financing of this war". (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Economic Times
13 minutes ago
- Economic Times
PM Modi defiant as Trump steps up pressure on India's Russia oil purchases
Prime Minister Narendra Modi struck a defiant tone in the face of US President Donald Trump's tariff threats, urging the nation to buy local goods as his administration signaled it would continue buying Russian government hasn't given India's oil refiners instructions to stop buying Russian oil, and no decision has been taken on whether to halt the purchases, people familiar with the situation told Bloomberg, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. Both state-run and private refiners are allowed to buy from preferred sources, and crude purchases remain a commercial decision, several of the people the weekend, Modi underscored the importance of shielding India's economic interests during uncertain global conditions. The comments came just days after the Trump administration imposed a 25% tariff on Indian exports to the US. The White House is also threatening more action if India continues Russian oil purchases. 'The world economy is going through many apprehensions — there is an atmosphere of instability,' Modi said at a rally in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday. 'Now, whatever we buy, there should be only one scale: we will buy those things which have been made by the sweat of an Indian.' India has become one of Trump's top targets as he looks to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his war in Ukraine. The US president lashed out at India last week, criticizing it for joining the BRICS grouping of developing countries and maintaining close ties with Russia, saying 'they can take their dead economies down together.' The rebuke marked a stunning shift in tone for the US, which for years had overlooked India's close historical ties with Russia as it courted the nation as a counterweight in Asia to China. Now, Trump appears willing to undo that strategy to gain leverage against Putin, who has resisted the US president's efforts to end the fighting in Ukraine. Stephen Miller, Trump's deputy chief of staff, on Sunday accused India of imposing 'massive' tariffs on American goods and 'cheating' the US immigration system in addition to purchasing about as much Russian oil as China. 'President Trump, he wants a tremendous relationship and has had always a tremendous relationship with India and the prime minister,' Miller said. 'But we need to get real about dealing with the financing of this war.''So, President Trump, all options are on the table to deal diplomatically, financially and otherwise with the ongoing war in Ukraine, so we can achieve peace,' Miller last week told reporters he 'heard' India would no longer be buying oil from Russia, calling it 'a good step.' Bloomberg reported last week that refiners were told to come up with plans for buying non-Russian crude, but one of the people said the instruction amounted to scenario planning in case Russian crude were to become New York Times reported Saturday that India would keep buying Russian crude despite a threat of penalties from Trump, citing two senior Indian officials it didn't identify. An Oil Ministry spokesperson didn't reply to messages from Bloomberg seeking comment outside of regular business refiners have been singled out by the European Union and the US for supporting Moscow during its war in Ukraine with the oil purchases. It has become the world's biggest buyer of Russian seaborne exports of crude, soaking up discounted barrels and ramping up its purchases from almost zero to about one-third of its China is the primary economic and diplomatic backer of Russia, Trump's leverage against the world's second-biggest economy is limited due to Beijing's control of rare-earth magnets the US needs to make high-tech goods. The US and China have held talks in recent months aimed at stabilizing the relationship after they both hiked tariffs on each other's goods well beyond 100% earlier this year. India has defended its ties with Russia, one of its biggest suppliers of weapons dating back to the Cold War. The two nations have a 'steady and time-tested partnership,' Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters on Friday. 'Our bilateral relationships with various countries stand on their own merit and should not be seen from the prism of a third country,' Jaiswal said. Asked about ties with the US, he added that he's 'confident that the relationship will continue to move forward.'India expects US trade negotiators to visit the country toward the end of the month to continue talks on a bilateral deal, an official in New Delhi said Friday. The nation will hold its ground and won't give the US access to its dairy and agriculture sectors, the official said, citing political and religious sensitivities. Modi's renewed emphasis on domestic manufacturing and consumption echoes his long-standing 'Make in India' initiative. However, the message has taken on new urgency after the US tariffs.'The interests of our farmers, our small industries and the employment of our youth are of paramount importance,' Modi told the rally on Saturday.
